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Thomas, Lawyer

Category: UK Property Law

Satisfied Customers: 7618

Experience: BA (Hons), PgDip, Practising Solicitor

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i signed a deed of surrender on a property i had leased, now

Resolved Question:

i signed a deed of surrender on a property i had leased, now the landlord has issued an invoice for electricity he forgot to charge for. there were 2 supplys into the property and as far as i am concerned i was paying for all i was using. am i right to refuse to pay these extra charges that have arisen through his mistake? thank you

If the charges related to electricity bills which were properly payable under the terms of your Lease up to the date of surrender of the lease then he is not prevented from seeking to recover these from you despite the lease now being surrendered I'm afraid.

If the bills relate to electricity which you were not bound to pay under the terms of the lease then obviously you do not have to pay them.

The issue is identifying whether you would have to have paid the bills he is seeking to claim for now when you were actually the tenant of the lease.

Sorry I cannot be more definitive than that.

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The lease would have contained a covenant to you to pay all utilities provided to the demised premises (ie the part of the property which you had a leasehold interest). This would ceased once the Lease was surrender, but your obligation to pay any arrears which related to the time in which you were the tenant would remain payable by you (because at the time you were the tenant).

I am somewhat surprised that the landlord consented to the surrender with arrears on the account, he could have demanded that they be cleared as a condition of his consent to surrender - but it does not prevent him from claiming them from you after surrender if they do actually relate to utilities you used when you were the tenant and he would be able to sue you to recover the money and his costs for issuing.